


it's quiet up there

by HyperchaoticStarlight (MVPYurio)



Series: i'll be around for you [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: (those flashbacks aren't traumatic or anything), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bruce Banner Needs a Hug, Flashbacks, M/M, Science Bros, Scienceshipping, Slow Burn, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-22
Updated: 2018-06-22
Packaged: 2019-05-27 01:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,489
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15013703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MVPYurio/pseuds/HyperchaoticStarlight
Summary: It’s not really that it allhappened,so much that it all happened soquickly.The last few years have been hard for Tony Stark. A phone call might change everything.





	it's quiet up there

**Author's Note:**

> I took some inspiration from the lyrics of "It's Quiet Uptown" (Lin-Manuel Miranda, Hamilton the Musical) for this piece. -Lia

It’s not really that it all  _ happened,  _ so much that it all happened so  _ quickly. _

New York—god, New York all but killed him. Literally. Only recently had he learned how to close his eyes and not see himself barely escaping the portal.

Pepper never looked at him the same after that—which made sense, seeing as he never looked at  _ himself _ the same after that, and then came the Mandarin and his mansion being destroyed and nearly losing her in every single possible way and after  _ all that,  _ just as he was about to explode all of his suits in some grand display of desperation, she grabbed his hand.

_ “Don’t,”  _ she had said.  _ “Don’t do this. If this is what you think you have to do to stay together, we shouldn’t be together. It’s bad for both of us.” _

He had tried to make some joke about this being a terrible time for a breakup, and then he tried to beg her to stay, but it was Pepper and she had made up her mind.

_ “It was never going to work out,”  _ she had said.  _ “You were my boss and then we were… we were something, and we were never friends. Also… I think I might be a lesbian…” _

She was right, of course, and after taking a few months’ space from each other, they ended up becoming friends. Tony moved out to a compound in northern New York, working on… really, whatever he felt like working on, and he thought that maybe, he might be fine, that he might be able to work through the unimaginable.

And then S.H.I.E.L.D. fell, and Nat leaked all of the files to the press, and two hours later Cap was at his door.

_ “Fury wanted to come with, but I told him he’d end up back in the hospital, given what I’m about to—” He cut himself off. “How much have you seen?” _

_ “Enough.” Tony stood up and began pacing around the room. “Enough to know that my father, in all of his brilliance and glory, didn’t notice for decades that there were Nazis using his shit, and that when he did find out, he and his wife, his completely innocent wife, were murdered. I know all of that. I’ve seen it. I’ve heard it. I’ve fielded off about fifty phone calls already and Pepper’s probably fielded more.” He turned to Steve. “Why are you here?” _

_ “Because there’s one thing that Nat didn’t leak. Something that she wanted me to tell you first.” _

_ Tony closed his eyes and tilted his head backwards in exasperation. “And what’s that?” _

_ “The guy who killed them wasn’t a normal HYDRA goon. He was trained and brainwashed by HYDRA for years. They turned him into a master assassin called the Winter Soldier.” Steve sighed. “His name was Bucky Barnes, and he’s still out there somewhere.” _

_ “I know that name,” Tony said immediately. “My father mentioned him.” _

_ “He was my best friend,” said Steve. “That’s why Nat wanted me to come to you first, before it leaked. She didn’t want you to find out secondhand. Tony, I swear, Bucky had no idea what he was doing. HYDRA brainwashed him and had complete control over him, just like Clint—” _

_ “I get it,” Tony interrupted. “Please go away.” _

_ “Tony—” _

_ “I’m not mad at you, if that helps. I’m not mad at this Barnes guy, either. Just go away. I want to be alone.” He turned and began walking away. “Tell Fury that he and his people can operate out of floor six of the Tower for now, but that he better background check everyone. I don’t want a single goddamn Nazi touching my shit, ever again.” _

_ Perhaps Steve had answered, but Tony had long closed a door in his face. _

Tony’s plan had been to stay in hiding indefinitely. He didn’t want a part of it anymore—of the Avengers, of S.H.I.E.L.D., even his company, although Pepper didn’t really let him escape that last one. He showed his face when he absolutely had to, and that was it.

And then Loki’s scepter turned up.

_ “Funny, it’s usually you that has to get dragged out of hiding.” _

_ Bruce laughed, taking his shoes and socks off and putting his feet on the coffee table. “I think that might be why Nat told me to come get you.” _

_ “Get your feet off my damn table,” said Tony. “Only I’m allowed to do that.” _

_ “Would you rather me, with my bare-ass stinky feet on the table, or Steve, trying to be as polite and emotionally distant as possible?” _

_ “God damn you, Banner,” Tony muttered. “Fine. You make a fair point. But that doesn’t mean I’m in. I want as far away from that scepter as possible.” _

_ “Even if it’s for the good of the world?” _

_ “Is it?” _

_ Silence. “I have no idea.” _

_ “Then no.” _

_ “What if I told you that Fury said we were allowed to examine it and find out how it worked?” _

_ Tony’s head snapped to look at Bruce, eyes just starting to light up. “Did he?” _

_ “Not yet.” _

_ “If you can get the all-clear for us—and only us, no one else on the team and especially none of Fury’s people—to examine the scepter, for as long as we want, I’m in.” _

Of course, that blew up in his face as well, with Ultron and the Vision and everything, and Tony wanted even less to do with the Avengers than he had before. He told the Avengers to stay in the tower, gave Fury the compound, and moved even further north, to a house he had bought some time ago in the middle of nowhere.

At long last, there was quiet. Tony didn’t necessarily have what he wanted, but he had what he needed—himself, on a giant piece of land with a giant yard and giant woods, in an arc-reactor powered house, all alone with only JARVIS to keep him company.

The others knew the address, of course, but they knew by now not to bother him. Besides, there wasn’t much to bother him over.

It got lonely pretty quickly, though, and so Tony began considering a move back into the Tower. The penthouse was empty, after all; he could spend his time up there and lock the others out if he really needed to, but if he wanted to go downstairs and see the others, he could. It was a nice balance, a balance he could be okay with.

He decided to video-call the rest of the team to announce his plan—and admittedly to gauge their reactions to see if they  _ wanted  _ him back.

_ “Oh, thank God,” said Nat. “Except for Vis, we have no idea how to work this damn house.” _

_ “Aw, come on, Bruce knows how to use JARVIS,” Tony said casually, putting his feet on the coffee table. He scanned the room, looking to see if Bruce would catch the joke, but Bruce wasn’t in the room. “Speaking of which, where is he?” _

_ Silence. Dead silence. “Well?” Tony asked. “C’mon, if he’s taking a shit you can just tell me.” _

_ “Nobody told you?” Nat asked nervously. “Tony, he’s gone. He and Thor disappeared six months ago, and no one’s seen them since.” _

_ Tony blinked a few times, opened his mouth to say something, and promptly hung up. _

_ “JARVIS, don’t let anyone in,” he said. “Nobody. Not a single person.” _

_ “What about Ms. Potts, sir?” _

_ “No. She can call me if she really needs me.” _

_ “Sir—” _

_ “That’s an order, JARVIS. No one comes in.” _

_ Tony could almost hear JARVIS sigh. _

And so it went, for eighteen months. Nobody came in, and Tony only ever came out to buy groceries and things that he needed around the house.

Tony had always felt a little like Willy Wonka, in some strange way, but now the likeness was as solidified as the chocolate bars the fictional candy-maker was so known for. He hated it, hated that he was locking himself away over and over and over again, but being alone was better than coming downstairs from his penthouse to see a team that could never be complete, for there to be a gaping hole in the circle, an empty place next to him on the couch.

And he would miss Thor’s antics, too.

At first, he refused to speak to anyone involved with any type of heroic behavior, but when he got an email from Peter asking if he’d maybe look at some designs he’d done for his new suit, Tony made a singular exception. He couldn’t leave a kid hanging.

Pepper called him about once a week, to talk about company stuff, and sometimes tried to get him to talk, tried to get him to come out of hiding, and sometimes she almost succeeded.

Today was not one of those days.

“Tony, you’re hurting everyone,” she said. “I have Nat texting me twice a week begging me to get you to come back. Your team needs you.” She paused for a second, weighing the risk versus the reward of what she wanted to say. “It’s not what he would have wanted.”

Tony clenched his fist. Of course she knew.

“Don’t tell me what he would have wanted,” he growled, and he hung up.

Two minutes later, his phone rang again, and, ready to rip Pepper a new one because that was too fucking far, he slammed his finger against the screen to accept the call.

“Hello?”

For a split second, there was silence on the other line, and then, quietly—

“Hey, Tony.”

Tony all but dropped his phone. There was no way—

“Bruce?” he asked hesitantly, almost embarrassed over how quiet and  _ squeaky  _ his voice was.

“Yeah. Yeah. It’s me. I—I’m back.”

“Where the hell have you been?” Tony demanded. “Wait. No. Don’t answer that. Where the hell are you now?”

“I… have no idea. I don’t really know how I got here, either. I was with Thor… and then I ended up here… and now I’m borrowing someone else’s phone—shit, Tony, I have no idea—”

“Don’t worry. I’ll find you. Well. JARVIS will. JARVIS—”

“Working on it, sir.”

“I want coordinates, exact street address, cross-streets, and a map reference,” said Tony.

“And I don’t want you to call the team,” Bruce interjected. “Or Fury, jeez.”

“Oh, thank God,” said Tony. “JARVIS, do everything you can to keep the others from knowing, and I mean everything. Kill someone, if you have to.”

“Don’t actually kill someone,” said Bruce.

“Okay, fine, don’t actually kill someone. But for Christ’s sake—”

“Understood, sir. And I have a location.”

“Great. I’m on my way.”

“Wait, I thought you were just gonna tell—”

“I’m an asshole, Banner, but not that much of an asshole. I’m on my way.”

~~~~

_ Twenty minutes later… _

Honestly, Bruce didn’t know  _ what  _ to think.

After two years—two goddamn years—of being the Hulk, on another planet, forced to fight and kill for some alien fuckhead’s entertainment, and now he was back on Earth, and the first thing that he thought to do was to call Tony Stark.

It made sense and all—Tony was the only Avenger Bruce would consider a friend, even as he’d gotten to know Thor better—although Bruce was a little surprised at himself for still having Tony’s number memorized. When he had borrowed that lady’s phone, he had dialed without even thinking about it.

And now Tony was on his way to find him, and  _ that  _ was an oddly exhilarating thought.

From somewhere above him, Bruce could hear a loud and familiar  _ zzzzhhhhhhooooom,  _ and he couldn’t help but smile. He wondered how many people around the world thus far had learned to smile at that exact sound.

Tony landed in front of Bruce as the visor came away from his face and the suit began retracting into the twin bracelets he had on his wrists. “Okay, I have to know,” he said in lieu of a hello. “How the hell did you end up in bum fuck cornfield nowhere, Ohio?”

“Oh, is that where I am?” Bruce asked. “Honestly, I have no idea. I was with Thor somewhere in space, and he had shit he had to do, so he basically just chucked me at Earth as soon as he found a way for me to get there.”

Tony rolled his eyes. “Motherfucker.”

“Hey, I figured I would try and call you, and if not, it would only take a few days for someone to find me.” On a whim, Bruce reached out to put a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “Seriously, Tony. I’m fine.”

“Well, let’s get you out of here,” said Tony. “Where do you want to go?”

“Not the Tower,” Bruce said immediately. “Steve’ll just ask a ton of questions and Fury will go all nuts trying to find Thor and Nat will be Nat and—”

“How about we go to my place?” Tony interrupted.

“I just said, I don’t—”

“I don’t live in the Tower,” said Tony. “I’ve got a place out in northern New York, as far away from everyone as you can get. Tons of space, giant ass lab in the basement like everywhere else I park, and it’s quiet up there. Hell, JARVIS is banned from letting anyone in unless I want them there.”

“But… he’d let me in?” Bruce asked the question with eyes tilted up and down at the same time, flitting back and forth between Tony’s face and the ground, hoping that Tony would understand what he was really asking. He felt like a vampire, unable to accept the situation without a direct, explicit invitation.

“Come live with me,” said Tony. “At least for a little while, while you get your shit together, and while I get my shit together, and whenever you feel like it you can move into the Tower or wherever you want.”

“You don’t mind me living in your space?” Bruce asked. “What with—”

“What, the fact that you occasionally turn green and destroy shit? Bruce, I don’t  _ care.  _ If that’s what you do to get the anger out, who am I to judge?”

Bruce stared at Tony, confused. Nobody had ever said that to him before.

“You’re my friend,” Tony continued. “And I lost you for two years. There’s almost nothing you can say or do right now that will make me change my mind.”

He stood tall, even without the armor of the suit, his body shrouded in sunset, his face illuminated in the soft blue emanating from his chest, his eyes dark and piercing like hot coals, and then the coals turned to deep, soft embers. “I won’t force you, though, because that’s shitty.”

“You don’t have to,” said Bruce. “I’m in.”

“You’ll like it,” said Tony, trying to remain casual, but in reality wanting to jump for joy. “It’s quiet up there.”

**Author's Note:**

> This series is brought to you by Lia (she/her, HyperchaoticStarlight) and James (they/them, TheMagicMicrobus). We try to update about every 2 weeks. However, we are both students (Lia is in college; James is in high school), and so we cannot promise perfection.
> 
> Find Lia on Tumblr @ hyperchaoticstarlight, marvel-at-these-gays, scienceshipping, and tinytonys.  
> Find James on Tumblr @ themagicmicrobus and morethanhumantogether.
> 
> If you have ideas for this series, please feel free to reach out to one of us and we will consider putting it in!


End file.
